Evaporation effect on thickness distribution for spin-coated films on rectangular and circular substrates

Abstract

Spin-coating is widely applied in the field of thin-film fabrication due to its simplicity and high film uniformity. To prepare thin films on rectangular substrates by spin-coating, the simulation and experimental methods were used to study the characteristics of the film thickness in this work. The two-phase flow simulations of spin-coating on a rectangular substrate and circular substrate were carried out with the volume of fluid (VOF) method. The simulation results showed that the airflow field and the substrate geometry had little effect on the evolution of spin-coated film thickness. However, in the experimental results, there was a significant difference in the thickness of the spin-coated film on the rectangular substrate and the circular substrate. According to further study, the solvent evaporation that was neglected in the simulation was the dominant factor of the differences. In addition, it was concluded that the non-uniform evaporation caused by the surface tension and edge accumulation in the later spin-coating stage was the main reason for the film accumulation of the windward area on the rectangular substrate. This work is useful to obtain a deeper understanding of the thin-film formation mechanism of spin-coating.